Officials with the Sulphur Springs Union School District voted Monday to adopt a phased approach to reopening schools in the fall, starting with classes taking place online and remaining so until Los Angeles County is taken off of California’s COVID-19 monitoring list.

During a special board meeting Monday, the Board of Trustees for the Sulphur Springs Union School District unanimously voted to adopt a phased approach to reopening schools in the fall, with all students starting classes in an online format.

“It’s actually something we have to do,” said Dr. Catherine Kawaguchi, who serves as Superintendent for the district. “It’s not something that we cannot do, we are in L.A. County.”

The meeting came less than a week after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that schools within Los Angeles County must remain closed until the county is off the state’s “watch list,” for at least two weeks

“While it is disheartening and unfortunate that Los Angeles County students can’t plan for a normal first day back at school, we respect the Governor’s decision to insist that counties reduce the rate of community transmission before schools re-open for in-person classroom learning,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, said on Friday.

Counties in the state can be on this “watch list” for one or more of several reasons:

• They have not achieved more than 150 tests per day per 100,000 people
• They have more than 100 cases per 1,000 residents
• They have case positivity rates greater than 8 percent
• They have a 10 percent or more increase in hospitalizations over the past three days
• They have less than 20 percent of ICU beds available
• They have less than 25 percent of ventilators available

After a county is off the “watch list” for two weeks, local public health officials are able to make the decision to allow in-person learning.  

For the Sulphur Springs Union School District, Kawaguchi recommended a phase approach for students returning to classes.

Image courtesy of the Sulphur Springs Union School District.

The first phase consists of all students beginning classes online in the fall, and remaining so until Los Angeles County is taken off of the governor’s COVID-19 monitoring list.

After that, students would return in three subsequent phases, with students in Special Day Classes (SDC) returning first, followed by TK-third grade, and ending with fourth-sixth graders.

Kawaguchi said that the phased approach would allow staff to learn how to safely have students return to school, giving them the opportunity to work out any “kinks.”

All students in third grade and up, along with all teachers and staff, would be required to wear a face mask once they physically return to school in order to remain compliant with state directives.

See Related: Castaic Union School District Votes To Begin Fall Semester Online

Parents are able to choose between having their students attend in the morning or afternoon once students begin to physically return to campuses. Parents can also opt for their students to remain in an online learning format. In either instance, students are set to remain with the same teacher throughout the school year, according to district staff.

In the coming weeks, teachers and staff from the district are set to receive training designed to prepare them for the coming fall, including training for teaching online and safety protocols for eventual in-person instruction.

Classes within the Sulphur Springs Union School District are set to begin on Aug. 13.

To watch the full special meeting, check out the video above or click here.

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